Scars
by Snakering
Summary: It's hard to forget when a reminder of what you've done is burned into your face.
1. Chapter 1

There is no romance in this; Mello and Matt are best friends, and maybe each other's only friend, but that's it. Anyhow, important information as stated in Death Note's _How to Read_, Mello blows the base up on 11-11-09, meets Near on 11-19-09, and contacts Matt on 11-27-09. Also as stated in _Another Note_, Mello has met L before (but I believe the creators are quoted somewhere saying Near has not). The stories are kind of together, but still one-shot-y.

* * *

Even with bandages, changed from their disgusting white that looked like Near to a blood-soaked red, the burn puts Mello in agony.

It doesn't show on his expression, which is just as serious and angry as usual. But his face feels like something is trying to eat it, and it's oozing blood and other things that he doesn't want to think about. It's sensitive to the air, to the sunlight, to _everything_, which is not helped by the awkward and poor job he did of bandaging it. The pain in his face alone makes the rest of the burn, which extends down to his hips, nearly unnoticeable.

At this moment Mello can do nothing. The police will not find him; he's in a perfect hideout that even few in the "underground business" know of. Tomorrow he will be fighting again, preparing to storm Near's place to get what he wants. But today he has to wait and plan.

That leaves him alone with nothing but his own thoughts.

Rage builds in his stomach until he is sick with it, but it has no outlet to take. Two people always come to mind when he is alone; today it is L's face that's first.

He met L once, years and years ago, after being chosen to be one of the potential successors along with Near. While the too-smart, repulsive, infuriating perfectionist held the World's Greatest Detective in contempt, Mello had always felt an admiration towards the man. He wanted what L had—the title of number one. The best.

It was an accident he was home on the day L came back to visit Wammy's; all of the orphans, he remembered, had been taken out of the building under the guise of a "puzzle to solve" or "free time." Probably Mello was just running from Roger, or taking the opportunity to try and steal chocolate or a toy of Near's. The circumstances weren't really important, but he had snuck in the door, looked over his shoulder, and tripped around the corner right into the lanky insomniac.

Nothing about the dynamic, defiant boy phased or startled L. He remained calm through the threats and the near-tantrum, the escape attempt and the pounding of small fists. Instead, he hunched even lower to Mello's level and simply began to talk.

It was a story of murder and mystery and crime, of intelligence and traps and Los Angeles, and Mello began to listen despite himself. Quickly he realized that this quirky and unkempt man, maybe not even ten years older than himself, had been in this story. He had _done _these things.

At the end L ruffled the boy's hair in a gesture of comfort, and gave a slight smile. If he thought hard enough and long enough, Mello could still see it; a look that said, one day _you're_ going to do something great.

And now L was dead. What would he think now, Mello wondered? Would he approve of the tactics? The mafia? Would he like the scar?

Would L still ruffle his hair?

Mello hates these thoughts, and so he reaches his hand up to the once-white bandages and rips them off.

The constant pain flares brighter immediately, but he doesn't care since it distracts him from the anger. The bandages are off weeks earlier than they should be, if not months, but suddenly Mello wants to see the scar and know how he looks. He looks at his chest, side, and tries to feel some of his neck before giving up in frustration. Even moving is different. It's so hard to get used to.

He's thinking of person number two before he even realizes it. Matt would have known the perfect thing to say right now.

Suddenly he knows, though it will be after confronting Near, where he needs to be.


	2. Chapter 2

It had been about a week since the explosion and Mello still wasn't entirely used to the new scar that graced a large part of his body. The pain, for example, though not nearly as crippling as the first day, still gave him a shock here and there. And only a few days ago had he finally mastered how far he could move that side of his face without slurring or stumbling over any words.

No, he wasn't entirely used to it, but he never spent time thinking about things he could regret. So instead he concentrated on breaking into Near's headquarters—poor security, he thought. Even an the most incompetent man in his mafia would have been able to break in.

He took Halle's help not because he wanted it, but because it was the smart thing to do. More than anyone he knew the benefits of having a man—or woman—on the inside.

This was one of the times Mello was exceptionally pleased to bear a scar. The SPK wasn't his home turf, and he was more on-edge than usual. Naturally he wanted to shoot everyone in the room. But the scar boosted his confidence. Near was the same curly-haired codependent child as the day they met, but he—he was a fighter who had grown up. He had done terrifying and powerful things. The evidence was on his face.

But of course this can't stop him from feeling toyed with by Near.


	3. Chapter 3

He punched the doorbell angrily, rocking back on his heels a few times before pounding on the door.

"Alright, coming," came a muffled sound from behind the door. There was the sound of multiple security systems and alarms being disabled and then the single click of a lock. "What idiot comes around this early—"

The grumble stopped suddenly as the door opened. "Mell."

A jacket obscured most of his face, but even the angry stance of the man in leather pants gave him away.

"Hello, Matty."

There was an awkward pause as the two teenagers eyed each other, and then Matt broke into a grin. "Mello, I can't believe you! Pulling that disappearing trick back at Wammy's—what the h-ll were you thinking?" He tugged at the leather jacket, and then laughingly pulled him into a half-hug.

Mello's normally sneering expression softened at the reunion with his old friend.

"Need a place to crash again, Mell? Just don't touch the wires on the walls… oh. Your face."

The hood on Mello's jacket had fallen back, and his sneer came back in full force. "What about it, Matt?" The boy in goggles said nothing, remembering the temper his friend had.

_"What about my face, Matt?"_

A gun clicked as Mello fingered the hilt angrily, thinking about firing it. Not at Matt, necessarily, because he didn't really want to kill him. Probably.

Finally Matt rolled his eyes and simply ignored the snarl. "I'm sure you did something stupid again, and I'm sure I don't want to hear about it. So get you're a-s with those too-tight pants inside now, because it's cold."

"It was the mafia," Mello muttered, still annoyed but stepping inside anyways. "Do you have any chocolate?"

Though he tried not to show it, Matt was slightly surprised at the comment. Even after years of being apart, he knew Mello better than anyone else did. Still….

"The mafia shot you up?" His voice was skeptical, but not entirely disbelieving.

The smirk turned smug. "I took control of the mafia," Mello responded. "I used them to get what I needed, and when the cops came I blew the base up to escape. I was going to be better. Better than Near."

This last sentence suddenly took on a pure white fury, and Matt spoke quickly to defuse the anger. "And aren't you? I doubt they'd have listened to him for a moment." The thought of Near trying to even get into the mafia, much less control it, made them both pause for a moment. A smile tugged at Mello's mouth despite his narrowed eyes. "Just get the d-mn chocolate, Matt," he finally complained, sitting on the couch carefully to avoid blinking laptop screens and game consoles.

Matt nodded and left the room to find something, knowing that if Mello has finally come to find him, his life was about to get a hundred times more complicated. More complicated, but much more interesting.


End file.
